Ok Guys after living with these for a little while now here's my review:
Onkyo is a brand I am very familiar with. I have owned many of their receivers and also one of there HTIB systems many years ago. When I heard they where going to be releasing a full size tower speaker I was skeptical at best. After owning there HTIB speakers I was not really expecting much from there tower's. I noticed these on sale last week for $129 a pair and i needed some speakers bedroom speakers so i thought what the hell. They arrived in one big box and where packed quite well. After unboxing the speakers the first thing i noticed about them was how well built they seemed to be built and they also passed the knock test. Overall it seemed to be a pretty well made speaker, a big step up in build quality vs there HTIB speakers.
The speakers are two way design, featuring a 1' balanced dome tweeter that stands about forty inches tall it's nice looking speaker, that offer's a matte black front end with matching color woofers. After setting them up in two channel mode with my sub(2.1) connected to My onkyo 805, i started to let the them play. The first thing that was striking to me was the large soundstage these pup's where throwing out and also the smooth some what dark tone they possessed that is very reminiscent of the Sonus Faber sound. The 4800's exhibit a smooth but slightly forward tonal balance. Also instruments such as gutiars and violins stood out in major way and had an immediate impact on me. Compared to other budget priced speakers that kind of gloss over the details. This was an unexpected surprise. For example while listening I noticed a kick drum had both forward thrust and texture, and it shook my living room. I got a chance to push these speakers pretty hard and they never complained or distorted. The system can no doubt play loud without strain, and it produces wide dynamics, sounds clean and was uncongested at very low SPLs. Overall I would say the sound balance is clean, taut, and detailed. If your more into warm, laid back sounding speakers these prolly won't float your boat.
One of the major things that could be a issue for potential buyers is those as of this writing the match center and surrounds SKS-4800 are not available in the US, and after talking with onkyo they don't have a target release date, so anyone hoping to build a surround sound will have to just use 7 of these towers or look elsewhere..
In Comparison to the Pioneer FS-52's the 4800's offer a fuller, richer sound balance, much better dynamics and bass performance , also while the 52's needs a sub for 2 channel IMO, the 4800's do just fine without one in 2 channel mode. They pretty much best the Fs-52's in almost every way possible, there is no doubt it is the better speaker IMO. The MSRP is $349. I paid $129 shipped for the pair. They usually go for around $179-$249 on amazon. At these prices this speaker is amazing value and the best deal in audio in my opinion. This is best tower speaker I have heard under $600 MSRP.
That said Ladies and gentlemen I think we have a new budget champion.
Pro's: Great Bass performance
Smooth Dark Tone
Big sound stage
Great Dynamics
Con's: At 86db they are not the most sensitive speaker in the world.
As of right now the center and surrounds are unavailable.
